1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a diagnosis mat and a infant-use mat under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which supports a biological body to be examined by an MRI diagnostic apparatus.
2. Background Art
In recent years of active development for medical diagnosis apparatus, there has been often utilized a magnetic resonance (MR) diagnosis apparatus in which a biological body under medical examination is imaged without being operated on or being cut out. In the magnetic resonance diagnosis apparatus, the biological body is placed on a tabletop and is transported into a gantry so that the biological body is photographed in a photographing region of the gantry. Therefore, the body to be examined must be at a standstill position.
While the requirement for the body to be at a stationary position is not difficult to be achieved for grown-up people, however, it often creates difficulties among infants or small children. Thus, there is now used a mat to support a patient such as the infant and small child.
FIG. 7 shows such a mat to be used for the MR apparatus. In FIG. 7, a plurality of belts 3 (four belts) are attached to a side of the mat and there are provided four buckles 2, on other side, to fasten respective belts 3.
Referring still to FIG. 7, the patient placed on the mat 1 is firmly supported by the belts 3 and the buckles 2. In order that a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal is received from a desired position of the patient, part of the mat 1 is a hollow and a short side of the mat 1 has an opening so that a surface coil 5 can be inserted inside of the mat 1. The surface coil 5 is fixed to a tray 4 and can be pulled out by a pullout rod 6. In other words, the position of the surface coil 5 can be adjusted by pulling and inserting the pullout rod 6.
However, in the magnetic resonance apparatus as shown in FIG. 7, the surface coil 5 is inserted into a longitudinal direction of the mat 1. Therefore, the position of the surface coil 5 can not be visually confirmed, so that the position of the surface coil 5 is determined based on length of the pullout rod 6 inserted. Therefore, there is a drawback where the position of the surface coil 5 can not be accurately set without providing a scale.
Moreover, when a patient such as infant or small child is examined and imaged, an anesthetic is sometimes required to avoid undesired movement by the patient. Moreover, a few piles of towels need be placed under the patient in order to adjust the height to obtain an appropriate imaging region thus taking much time.
Accordingly, since the surface coil 5 is inserted from the longitudinal direction of the mat 1, the position of the surface coil 5 can not be accurately confirmed. Moreover, when the infant or small child is imaged by the MR apparatus, the patient goes through physical pain by taking an anesthetic or the like and many efforts are required to properly adjust the height and position of the patient.